Chapter 3.13 - A Sense of Foreboding

“Amanda? What are you doing here?”

Jonah had been looking forward to an afternoon of peace and quiet, only to return to his room and find his usually antisocial sister perched on his bed.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Why?”

She looked slightly embarrassed. “Well… you’re my big brother, aren’t you? I figured I could come to you for advice.”

Jonah relaxed a little, but he was still suspicious. He believed that everyone always had an ulterior motive. “What about?”

“I’ve been keeping a journal since my therapist recommended that I write my feelings down, and it just made me realize… I’m going to be in high school soon, and I don’t have any real goals for life. I don’t even have any hobbies, other than…” She averted her eyes, and Jonah knew she was thinking of her habit of talking to thin air.

He wanted to ask if her “imaginary friend” was in the room with them, but he restrained himself. “Well, you know that I decided I wanted to be a doctor because I like logical reasoning, helping people, and the value of hard work. What do you like? What do you want to try doing?”

She blushed. “Well, I do like writing in my journal. I thought I wouldn’t, but it’s actually been… kind of fun.”

Jonah nodded, trying to look like the wise older brother he wanted to be. “So keep writing. Do what you value, not what the world says you should.”

She nodded slowly. “I think I get it. Thanks, Jonah.”

After she left the room, he called Jenny. He had to ask her how she handled giving her siblings advice. 

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Sometimes, when she was feeling particularly angry, or sad, or lonely, Willow liked to go out to the woods. She knew a lot of people thought they were creepy, but she liked to relax out in the natural world. It was a nice place to get away from people.

So naturally, she was shocked when she got to her favorite spot and found someone else already there.

“Who are you?”

The boy turned towards her. Closer up, she could see that he was younger than her, probably close to Felix’s age. He smiled at her, and her first thought was that this was someone like Serena. Someone who people called adorable. 

He spoke calmly in response to her accusatory question. “I’m Conor.”

“Why are you out here?”

“I like it out here. It’s peaceful.”

“Yeah, but why are you here, specifically, in this spot?”

He looked around. “This place almost feels like I can hear nature’s heartbeat.”

“What sort of answer is that?”

“An honest one. Do you always ask so many questions?”

Willow sighed, her hostility abating. “Only when I feel threatened.”

To her surprise, Conor grinned. “Me too! But you shouldn’t feel threatened by me.”

“I wasn’t, not really. It was just that you were in this place, my place, and then you sort of reminded me of my sister.”

Conor looked confused. “I’m… not sure how to feel about that.”

Willow quickly backtracked. “Just… adorable.”

Conor beamed once more. “I am adorable, aren’t I? You have good judgement.”

“And you have a big head.”

“An adorable big head, though.”

Willow smiled as they continued bickering, getting the strange feeling that she’d maybe… made a friend?

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Felix’s life was going great. He was the pampered baby of the family. His teacher at school loved him. His best friend, Jasmin Lau-Simon, was about as cool as girls got. He’d even found a four-leaf clover the other day! So yes, he lived a charmed life. But there was just one thing said life was missing.

“I still don’t get why you want to do this.”

Felix stared at Jasmin, unable to absorb her words. “Because it’s Marissa!”

“So?”

“So she’s perfect!”

Jasmin snorted. “She’s no more perfect than I am.”

“Exactly! You’re perfect, and she’s perfect.”

Jasmin gave him a funny look. “And?”

“And I want to be her friend.”

Jasmin just shook her head. “You’re welcome to try, but…”

Felix didn’t bother to listen to her. He just strolled right up to where Marissa was holding court and smiled at her. “Hi, Marissa.”

She seemed a little thrown off by the force of his grin, but she smiled back. “You’re Lucky!”

“Well, my name’s Felix, but you can call me Lucky if you want.”

She blushed. “I’ve been calling you that in my head since you found that four-leaf clover. It just slipped out, but… I think I might call you that. If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind.” And he didn’t, because she was smiling at him. 

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Madeline was enjoying one of her rare moments of alone time when the doorbell rang. She wasn’t terribly happy about it. She’d almost never been alone in the house until Felix started school last year, and even now she often had to go to work or clean or something. Still, she went to answer the door.

“Hello. You must be the wife.”

The woman breezed past a shocked Madeline, straight into the house. Madeline knew exactly who this was, of course. She’d never learned her name, but the hair alone made her identity obvious.

“If you’re here for Serena, she’s not here.”

“Why would I be here for Serena?”

Madeline stiffened. “Alaric isn’t here either.”

“I know that. I’m here for you.”

“Why would you ever think I would possibly want to speak to you?”

“I’m sure you don’t want to speak to me, but I really have to speak to you.”

“What about?”

The woman looked Madeline in the eye. “How well do you really know your husband?”

Then she swept out as though she’d never been there, and Madeline was left shivering. What had that been about?

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Alaric knew something was wrong the moment he walked into work. Everyone was quiet, almost somber, except for occasional nervous whispers. Everyone was looking at him as though he was a ticking bomb that could explode at any moment.

Still, he walked to his office door. Even with his inklings that something was happening, though, nothing could have prepared him for what was behind that door.

“Alaric Doe?”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“We’d like to ask you some questions about the death of John Doe.”

Author's Note: And... scene! I hope you can see why I made this whole thing two chapters. This one was already massive. Incidentally, this is the only chapter where all four of the younger kids are children at the same time, since Amanda ages up next chapter, but there will be four or so chapters where all five kids are teens, because Sims 3 aging settings are weirdly skewed. Also! With this chapter, every major player in the next generation has been introduced, so start thinking about that. I'm aiming to have this generation done by the beginning of August. Finally, I said I'd show you Felix as a child, so here he is.

He is now lucky, in case it wasn't obvious. He is also inexplicably adorable. Next chapter: a town (mostly) in mourning.